You ever have someone make a suggestion that’s so simple and obvious, you find yourself having a serious “Duh!” moment? As in, “Duh! Why didn’t I think of that?”
I commented awhile back that I was pleased when our DVD distributor asked for bonus material, because that allowed me to include interview footage that wouldn’t fit into the film. I explained how they asked for perhaps 20 minutes, I gave them 30, and wished I could’ve inlcuded even more.
A reader named Stephen, who lives in Northern Ireland, asked why I didn’t just post more interview footage on my blog. That’s when I had the “Duh!” moment.
So periodically, when the mood strikes me, I’m going to go back through my old interview footage and put together clips on various topics. This will give you all more opportunities to hear from people like Drs. Mike & Mary Dan Eades, Sally Fallon, Dr. Al Sears, etc.
I’m not going to edit these too tightly because, unlike in the film, we don’t need to keep the comic timing going, so I can just let my experts have their say. You may hear bits and pieces that you already heard in the film, but with more of the original interview included.
Today’s clip is about how the misguided fears over saturated fats gave us the Frankenstein fats we consume today. Enjoy.
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What a fabulous clip! Thanks for sharing! I look forward to seeing more clips in the future. I live in Canada right in the middle of Canola country – lots of people here do not want to hear the truth about the poison they produce.
I have followed a low carb lifestyle consistently for two years now. Although my weight loss has stalled, I feel great and am healthy (I do not need the nasty meds I was on anymore). My daughter is 16 and follows the same lifestyle as me. Her health teacher made them sit through, “Supersize Me” recently. I am having her loan my copy of “Fathead” to her teacher. I am hopeful that she will see the light and show your film to the class. Unfortunately that is highly unlikely because our health teachers tend to be very narrow in their thinking – i.e. low fat/high carb/balanced diet is the best.
We’re not exactly what the education establishment is going for at the moment, but we’ll see. I heard from a friend that Fat Head is required viewing for some class in naturopathic medicine — he has a friend who’s a student — so maybe things will change.
The diet is of course about health, not just weight loss, so you’re doing fine, stall or not.
Hi Tom,
a small introdution before my question: been a low-carber now since 2001, lost nearly 100 pounds with it over the course of the years, until during my pregnancy last year the nausea was so bad i couldn’t eat protein and had to eat carbs and even with all the vomiting am now up 35 pounds from where i was. *anyway*, got back to low-carb about half-way through the pregnancy, and am as committed as i ever was, whether or not the weight loss happens again.
i have read good calories bad calories, and very much enjoyed fathead, which i think i heard about through dr eades blog. i’m planning on showing it to all my non-low-carbing relatives – i figure i’m more likely to get them to watch that, than to read GCBC, and you do a fantastic job of getting the info out there. so thank you!!
anyway, my question – i’m still totally confused on what fats are really healthy. beyond the saturated fats, i mean. i’m totally on board with eating saturated fat, but i can’t buy chicken or beef tallow or lard where i live, so if i’m looking for something to cook with, beyond olive oil and butter, what do i use?
i read in protein power life plan that canola oil *is* the vegetable oil that’s ok to use, if organic (i read it in an excerpt on amazon, my actual copy is on its way to me now, so i may not have all the relevant info). is that not true?
also, i see lots of margarines in the shops that say on them ‘no transfats’ – how are they managing to create margarine with no trans fats, if that’s basically all that margarine is?
I think canola oil probably isn’t harmful, but I also don’t think it’s the great heart-healthy oil it’s made out to be. I’m pretty sure Mike Eades no longer recommends it.
They no longer hydrogenate vegetable oils to make them firm, but I still wouldn’t bother with margarine. Hydrogenated or not, it’s made from oils we don’t need, which means eating margarine displaces the fats your body wants.
For cooking, in addition to butter and olive oil, we use coconut oil. It’s expensive if you go to Whole foods, but you buy a big jar from Nutiva on Amazon that’s pretty reasonable. It’s delicious, it has anti-viral and anti-cancer properties, and it has good cooking properties.
My wife also saves the bacon drippings in a jar. Kind of salty, but good for frying.
Tom, I’m glad you had that “Duh” moment! I thoroughly enjoyed the clip, and look forward to more.
Like Val, I follow a low carb lifestyle, but the weight stubbornly refuses to budge after an initial 80 lb loss, with more than that still needing to be lost, but the health benefits have been absolutely phenomenal. This didn’t happen overnight, it took many months of healing, but considering what I was like before, I’ll take still fat and healthy any day of the week.
Your blog is not only informative, but extremely entertaining. Thanks.
Eighty pounds is impressive. Congrats. And indeed, this is about health. I’m not skinny, and probably never will be, but I’m way leaner than other men in my family, and healthier too.
I know Jimmy Moore went through a long stall when he lost 180 pounds, but then the weight started dropping off again.
Some folks have to give up artificial sweeteners and eat proportionally more fat and a bit less protein to break through a stall. The taste of anything sweet can produce an insulin spike in recovering sugar addicts — conditioned response. The brain assumes sweet means sugar. Likewise, too much protein can end up leading to a rise in blood sugar in some people.
@Deborah
You can make you own lard. Here is a decent guide: http://www.obsessionwithfood.com/2006_01_01_blog-archive.html#113709378997673043 Google will turn up several more.
Cool! My wife also has found lard at ethnic grocery stores in our area — Mexican or Armenian.
thanks, Aaron! i’ve actually started collecting chicken skin in order to make shmaltz, so i’m on the right track with that 🙂
i’ve tried coconut oil in the past but i always found it left a slight coconut flavour which i really didn’t like. i love coconut milk, but i’m not a big fan of coconut itself, and i didn’t like the coconut oil taste. maybe if i use it in recipes which i’m already using coconut milk in, it’ll blend in and i won’t mind it as much.
i don’t really need margarine or indeed vegetable oil other than olive oil on more than the odd occasion, so really i was just wondering. but sometimes recipes call for an oil with less of a flavour than olive oil, so i just wanted to know which the best ‘vegetable’ oil was, if you weren’t going to use olive. also, i keep kosher, so occasionally i need a solid fat that isn’t butter. we don’t eat dairy with meat, and obviously being a low-carber, i’m often eating meat. so for the odd occasion when i make some low-carb brownies or something like that, i need to use margarine. my low-carb dessert of choice is chocolate mousse using nothing but 85% chocolate, eggs, splenda and liqueur, but it gets old if i make it *all* the time!
I sometimes take MCT oil for health reasons, but I suppose you could use it in recipes as well. It has virtually no flavor that I can detect.
Great clip of Eades, Enig and Fallon. I love reading and hearing what these brilliant thinkers have to say. Your docu and this blog are giving me so much food for thought. I’ve now spent a year eating more fattily, and what a great year it’s been.
I’m having so many epiphanies since I started re-stocking my brain with FAT. Your article about alcohol abuse and low-fat, high-carb reminded me of books by Peter Kramer. He wrote “Listening to Prozac” and “Against Depression”. In the second book, he mentions that the autopsies of brains of depressives reveal their brains are altered! They are smaller in certain areas. Depressives deserve to be treated. No one should ever have to suffer with that debilitation. Are some depressives symptoms aggravated by eating low-fat??? Is depression exacerbated by eating the wrong kind of fat? I have read that a small number are un-treatable currently. Could eating high-fat, low-carb nudge them into the treatable range and would the ones who are currently treatable be able to lower their medication dosages with a change in diet?. Lard-not-Prozac, Pork-rinds-not-Prozac. We deserve mitigation of this scourge of Frankenstein fat and HFCS borne illnesses.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but since the diet directive in the 70’s encouraging us to eat low-fat and the commodification of HFCS and demonization of saturated fats like coconut oil and butter, ‘diseases of civilization’ have increased- type II diabetes, cancer, heart disease, autism, overweight, osteoporosis, depression, dementia. I think this was an unintended consequence of this and probably unforeseeable, but Big Pharma and soy and corn growers couldn’t have asked for a better outcome and they have made obscene profits from it. It’s been one giant population experiment to the detriment of all of us. And turning healthy people into patients that need Pharma’s medications while simultaneously encouraging continued eating of the originally damaging foodstuffs -vicious-cycle- phew, they’ve found the philosopher’s stone AND a perpetual motion machine all in one!
I absolutely believe consuming the wrong kinds of fats could lead to depression, which is largely a physical ailment. The brain is made of fat and needs the right kinds of fats.
I also agree that the rising tide of the “diseases of civilization” was an unintended consequence. I don’t buy the Kevin Trudeau conspiracy theories that “they” want us to be fat and sick so they can sell us drugs. These misguided theories were the result of arrogance, not malice. People like Ancel Keys and George McGovern were so convinced they had the answer, they simply ignored all evidence to the contrary.
Tom:
This is a great idea. And I’ll alert all my readers every time you put a new one up. I added a little commentary to this one, including a 1915 print ad for Crisco you gotta see.
http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2009/05/know-your-fats.html
I enjoyed the extra information on Crisco in your post. Candles … who’da thunkit?
After finishing the film, I swore I’d never go through the footage again. But now that I’ve had a break from production, I realize there’s just too much good material sitting around unused.
I use Jarrow Formulas organic coconut oil for all my cooking. It has a neutral taste with absolutely no coconut flavor. That was my biggest apprehension as well, I do not like the flavor of coconut and was worried it would contaminate my food (imagine coconut flavored eggs – gross). Happily, it has been a wonderful addition to my diet. My skin seems to have improved, with much less dryness and a reduction of hang nail and other irritations by the fingernails. But at 13 grams saturated fat per Tbsp, it is a wonderful food because the medium and short chain triglycerides it contains bypass the lymphatic system and enter directly into the bloodstream for quick energy.
I like the Nutiva, but it does have some coconut flavor. We’ll have to try the Jarrow brand as well.
“I heard from a friend that Fat Head is required viewing for some class in naturopathic medicine — he has a friend who’s a student — so maybe things will change.”
That’s good. Is this in America somewhere?
We need it in the Naturopathic school I went to. Even though they are less afraid of fat – just about all treatments given out on diet recommend more fruits and vegetables, less red meat and low-fat particularly if they have any heart issues! I sit and shake my head in clinic everytime I hear that prescription.
It’s a school in Phoenix. My friend is going to get more information for me. I’d like to talk to the instructor if possible.
Mary Enig, who I think also keeps kosher, recommends this oil blend which you can make in advance and keep on hand. Melt coconut oil and mix with equal parts olive oil and sesame oil. The sesame must be cold pressed or expeller pressed. which will insure that it has retained its unique antioxidants. It can be used in salads, homemade mayo, and for cooking…it has a higher smoke point than coconut by itself.
There are also recipes, including for salad dressings and such, in the Enig/Fallon book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat.”
Nice vid.
Been making my own Lard for a year, it’s the best.
Thanks for posting, keep up the great work.
Jay
Homemade lard. I’m going to have to give that a try someday.
How lucky I feel to live in Australia where lard is available at the major supermarkets (Woolworths & Coles):
http://www.fonterrafoodservices.com.au/product.php?id=78
And for a giggle, check out the dropdown “Nutritional Information” which consists entirely of the following:
Kosher………. No
Halal…………. No
No surprises there, I guess!
P.S. Whenever I use this in a stirfly for guests I never tell them what the secret ingredient is, but everyone says it’s the most delicious stirfry they’ve ever tasted! Heh heh!
My grandmother used to fry with lard. Best chicken I ever tasted.
How does Australia feel about Americans emigrating? Would it help if I explained that my family is mostly Irish and didn’t always respect the English laws?
Australia was founded as a British convict colony, so at least they’ll empathise with not respecting English laws…
If Aussie is like New Zealand, which I suspect it is (we are pretty alike, just a lot of rivalry), if you have something to offer the skill base and make an effort to fit in you should be fine. There was a case here a couple of years ago about a person with a doctorate from the states (not ivy league, but still respectable) being turned down because her BMI was over 30 and she was flagged as a health risk, kicked up quite a media storm. Ironically she specialised in weight identity psychology if I remember rightly.
Basically, if you can shout your neighbour a beer and help them build a DIY deck on the weekend you should fit in no trouble. And the pavlova is a kiwi invention.
I’m all thumbs with tools, but pretty good at pouring a cold one …
Sounds like you’ve got the skills. Though I’d have to test whether you actually have true cold-pouring skills in reality. Also you would have to put up with the amazingly wide range of Asian and Mediteranian food and fresh produce. Life can be tough.
However, the Kiwi above didn’t mention the essential prerequisite: The Department of Immigration will require that you be able to eat Vegemite sandwiches, or you will not be allowed to stay. Also, to fully mimic the Australian palate, you have to eat everything with loads of Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce or Indonesian Kecap Manis. (These are available in every supermarket here. The result of every person and his or her dog going to Phuket or Bali. Kecap Manis is particularly leathal wrt to carbs.) It is not compulsory that you watch, follow or even understand cricket: you are after all a Yank and therefore have limitations in this regard.
Mind you, emigration used to be easier: my great, great, ……, great grandmother was sent over here for stealing “a small quantity of lace”. I don’t think such a deal is available these days.
Cheers.
Rats … I was hoping I could steal a small quantity of lace and make it a done deal. And yes, as a Yank, I’m resistant to learning the rules of any sport where the participants appear to be on their way to the yacht club.
Although I once tried, upon request, to explain the rules of American football to a Swede and suddenly realized what a stupid game it is. But I still get emotionally involved.
Hmmmm, going to a yaght club, eh?
Well, the Indians have solved that problem, with their Indian Premier League nonsense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Premier_League
All the best Australian players are members of the IPL. Besides the huge heaps of money involved, there are other benefits:
http://www.page03.com/page03/sizzling-hot-beauties-katrina-kaif-and-deepika-padukone-with-dravid-for-ipl-video/
(Still from promo for the Bangalore Royal Challengers)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore_Royal_Challengers
And, yes, I used to be a member of the Royal Motor Yacht Club!
Cheers, and we should stop meeting like this.
Sounds a bit like the best Japanese and Central American baseball players being recruited (read: big money) by the American major leagues.
We call our baseball championship the World Series, but don’t play anyone outside of the two U.S. leagues. Kind of embarrassing when you think about it.
It’s a bit like baseball fans oohing and aahing over all the records set by Babe Ruth — impressive, yes — but forgetting that he never had to face some of the best pitchers of his era, who were relegated to what were then called The Negro Leagues.
Michael, wasn’t the IPL bankrolled by that Texan guy who got done for fraud and was on the run for a while (not entirely sure whether he got caught in the end). Stanford or some such.
I watch cricket via highlights. I can’t justify dedicating 5 days to a test match that quite often doesn’t produce a result. I can also only stand to watch the first 2 min and last 2 min of a yacht race too, so maybe there are more parallels than just the clothes.
And also, we in New Zealand can buy bananas for $3 per kilo. The prevalence of Thai food absurdly high here too… not that I’m complaining. I also see that you didn’t fall for the pavlova bait.
Pardon my ignorance of the sport, but do cricket matches last five days?!
I sat through a lot of baseball games at Wrigley field when I lived in Chicago, and yes, baseball can be slow … but it’s a gorgeous ballpark, you can sit in the stands and have cold beers delivered to your seat by strolling vendors (in L.A. you have to go to the vendor’s booth and stand in a long line), and the human scenery is pretty good too.
(Since my wife reads the blog, I should mention I was single in my Wrigley field days … ahem.)
Twenty20 cricket is 20 overs (120 balls) per side, takes a couple of hours.
One day cricket is 50 overs (300 balls) per side, takes…one day (6-7 hours of play).
Test cricket each side gets 2 innings, where they bat until they are all dismissed or declare. This can sometimes take 3 days, though often it reaches 5 days, after which, if not all innings are complete, it is a draw.
I can see the appeal of going to a game for the atmosphere, but 5 days in a row… no thanks.
5 Days? That’s just for a single match! A series (the most famous of which is The Ashes) lasts 5 matches!! Each round of The Ashes these days is followed by a billion people (mostly in India) even though the series only takes place in Australia and England. It’s England’s turn this year.
OK, so I don’t watch every minute of the Ashes, but at work people gather around the plasma at crucial stages. It actually gets quite exciting, a bit like watching a performance of The Ring at Bayreuth.
Pavlova? If you insist. Who cares! You can’t have Melba Toast. Or the Lamminton! And now that China is back in the assendency, they’re gonna reclaim their goosberry, SO THERE!
Sorry Mr Tom for inflicting you with our antipodean squabbles. What we’re talking about are these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlova_(food)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_toast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit
No problem, I enjoy the squabbles. And we have kicked around the idea of emigrating somewhere, though it’s not likely … yet.
Not to start a political debate (I generally reserve those for the tomnaughton.com site), but if the current crop of American politicians keeps saddling my kids with trillion-dollar debts to pay, I will de-saddle them by raising them elsewhere. My skills are portable. I may have to learn to appreciate cricket, yachting uniforms and all.
Oh and the current round of the IPL is happening right now in S Africa of all places, for security reasons while India holds its election, which takes months and we now know the result. I cannot watch it as it’s late at night our time and I’d rather get laid rather than neglect the little woman while I watch teams with silly names go 20 overs each. Whether Bernie bankrolled the last lot, I have no idea, but the Texas Cowboys cheerleaders were imported to add further dash and sex to the Bollywood pizzaz.
Basta! Genug! Bas! Enfin! This correspondence is now closed.
I’ve never heard of Melba toast, never knew that kiwis had tried to claim the lamington, and the kiwifruit is so named because it looks like a brown kiwi without feet or beak. It also happens to grow well in New Zealand, which is why we export so many.
I really don’t know nor care about pavlova either, for that matter.
Melba toast brings bad memories of my parents dieting.